[avmad]

Hi all,

I have an 8800v through Vodafone in the UK. I also have a TomTom One XL GPS device.

I have subscribed to receive traffic updates on my TomTom but this requires a connection to a phone or similar to send the data to the TT.

The TT connects to the BB via bluetooth - theoretically by setting up a serial connection then using the gprs dial up facility to connect to the internet. I have the following configuration set up in the TT:

APN: internet
username: web (can be blank also)
password: web (can be blank also)
dial sting: "at+cgdcont=1,"IP","internet""
dial number: "*99***1#" (also tried "*99#" - both work from a PC DUN connection)

It's interesting that the BB 8800 is not listed as a supported phone on the TT website but the BB 8100 is supported (red herring?). I would have thought these two devices might have similar hardware/OS setup.

Anyway, because I have had no success in getting the data connection on the TT to work (although the devices do seem to pair OK), I thought I would switch to my laptop and see if I could get the "untethered" bluetooth modem working on that (I couldn't).

Following instructions given on the website (in the How to use the Blackberry as a modem guide), I next went for the simpler "tethered" PC to BB connection via USB cable and I did get that working (although it seems to require the BB Desktop to be installed, as that supplies the "RIM virtual serial ports"

I'm not sure if the RIM virtual serial ports are required for the PC bluetooth connection as well as I still have to research this. Also, the connection may require the BB Desktop to be running for other reasons???

However, what I am concerned about is that if these virtual serial ports (and possibly other BB Desktop configs) are required on a PC, maybe something extra is required within the TomTom to create a DUN type connection to the 8800. If so how can this be achieved?

Any comments or help would be appreciated.

Cheers!

avmad

[mckinneycm]

It won't work. The 8800 will not act as a GPS transmitter to another device. The reason the 8100 is compatible with the TT is because the 8100 does not have GPS and therefore can use the TT as it's GPS transmitter. Does that make sense?

[mckinneycm]

I tried to do the same thing with my 8820 and 8100. I wanted to see if the 8820 would transmit a GPS signal to the 8100 via bluetooth, but then I found out from everyone on this site that the 8820 won't do that.

[avmad]

Originally Posted by mckinneycm

It won't work. The 8800 will not act as a GPS transmitter to another device. The reason the 8100 is compatible with the TT is because the 8100 does not have GPS and therefore can use the TT as it's GPS transmitter. Does that make sense?

Thanks for that.

So you seem to be saying that even though I do not want to use the GPS capabilities of the 8800 - because the TomTom XL has it's own GPS - This is somehow interfering??? This is disappointing given that I simply want to receive traffic data (not GPS data) from / through my phone. It doesn't quite sound correct.



avmad

[mckinneycm]

The BB is not a trasmitter. It will pull the traffic data for it's own applications, however, it will not transmit the data to another device.

[ggoodale]

I think the OP is trying to use the 8800 as a modem, not as a GPS device. The TomTom model he referenced can dial out to the internet via Bluetooth to download traffic updates.

@avmad - who's your cell provider?

[mckinneycm]

Originally Posted by ggoodale

I think the OP is trying to use the 8800 as a modem, not as a GPS device. The TomTom model he referenced can dial out to the internet via Bluetooth to download traffic updates.

@avmad - who's your cell provider?

Ok, I see where you're going with this. I still don't think it will work, because you would need to have Desktop Manager installed on the TT. But maybe there is some type of driver that you can use.

[avmad]

Originally Posted by ggoodale

I think the OP is trying to use the 8800 as a modem, not as a GPS device. The TomTom model he referenced can dial out to the internet via Bluetooth to download traffic updates.

@avmad - who's your cell provider?

Yes!! ggoodale is exactly right. That's what I want to do - use the 8800 as a modem to connect to the net to retreive the TT traffic service and then transmit it to the TT device.

Seeing as you asked, I'm on a corporate vodafone contract (connected to a BES).

When I started on this, the task seemed simple enough given that the TomTom One XL has the facility to establish a serial connection to a phone via bluetooth and then in a similar manner to DUN from a PC, to dial a (gprs) number using the user supplied APN / username / password.

However...

The BB 8800 is not listed as a supported device by TomTom and Vodafone do not support TomTom connections. Funnily enough, the BB 8100 *is* listed by TomTom as a supported device and so I am surprised that this device would work but the 8800 not.

BTW - It's no consolation but my personal PDA (an Orange SPV M3100) is also not on the TT supported list and that does not work either).

Hope that helps on the clarification front :(

avmad

[SimonSingh]

Hi there mate,

It is possible. A while ago, I had no internet at home, and was forced to use my 8800 as a modem. With the standard settings, it wouldn't connect.

There's a site about here somewhere, with instructions showing you how to use it as a modem. It's got alot of custom strings, depending on your network.

Another idea is, have you set up your TCP settings in your phone?

I'm pretty sure that I did this with a friends TT, not sure if it was my BB or SE though.

[fxstsb]

mine does. I get traffic and phone use. Can't say the phone use is great since my road noise is significant. My traffic come off the internet thru my phone.

[avmad]

Originally Posted by SimonSingh

Hi there mate,

It is possible. A while ago, I had no internet at home, and was forced to use my 8800 as a modem. With the standard settings, it wouldn't connect.

There's a site about here somewhere, with instructions showing you how to use it as a modem. It's got alot of custom strings, depending on your network.

Another idea is, have you set up your TCP settings in your phone?

I'm pretty sure that I did this with a friends TT, not sure if it was my BB or SE though.

Thanks for your reply which is both intriguing and encouraging, although frustrating at the same time!!

Can you or anyone else tell me where these custom strings might be located? As you may have observed above, I'm using the standard one that TomTom has inside the unit (at+cgdcont=1,"IP","internet") but from discussions with the techies at Vodafone, that string is also their standard one. Additionally, I have managed to get my 8800 to connect to the internet from my PC with DUN (but only in tethered mode via the USB cable).

Thanks again.

avmad

[avmad]

Originally Posted by fxstsb

mine does. I get traffic and phone use. Can't say the phone use is great since my road noise is significant. My traffic come off the internet thru my phone.

Thanks for the response. Is the phone that you are doing this with a BlackBerry? If so, would you mind sharing exactly how you configured the TT to BB connection for traffic?

Cheers!

avmad

[Griffog]

I have connected my T-Mobile 8800 to a GP720 and can access Traffic etc.

[avmad]

Originally Posted by Griffog

I have connected my T-Mobile 8800 to a GP720 and can access Traffic etc.

Thanks Griffog: Based on what I put in my first post in this thread, do you see anything that I'm doing wrong or have any tips or help to offer in getting the connection running?

Cheers!

avmad

[Griffog]

I chose 8100 in the setup/pair process as that was the nearest to the 8800. Apart from that I didn't do anything special.

On the 8800 I had previously changed the APN from the default to general.t-mobile.uk to resolve a connection issue with Opera Mini which may be linked?

Did you let TomTom set it up automatically? There should be no need for you to manually input APNs, usernames, dial strings etc, just choose Vodafone as your provider in the set-up process?

[avmad]

Originally Posted by Griffog

Did you let TomTom set it up automatically?

Yep. Tried that to no avail. Maybe I'll try it once more and report back.

EDIT: I also just tried selecting 8100 as the phone but the TT still reports "Unable to setup your wireless data connection. Do you want to change your settings?"

:(

avmad

[Griffog]

What APN do you have configured on your BB?

[joller]

Originally Posted by Griffog

What APN do you have configured on your BB?

I take it no APN as he's on BES?

I've got the same problem, I'm with telstra in Australia.

I don't use APN, I assume all my traffic goes through BES, so no provider-side APN is needed.
Is it somehow possible to point tomtom to use the BES rather then telstra's APN?
Opera mini and google maps don't have a problem working through the BES, so I thought hopefully tomtom could use BES as well?
tomtom insists on putting in APN info though, so I'm not sure how to get it to work through BES instead.

[SimonSingh]

Originally Posted by avmad

Thanks for your reply which is both intriguing and encouraging, although frustrating at the same time!!

Can you or anyone else tell me where these custom strings might be located? As you may have observed above, I'm using the standard one that TomTom has inside the unit (at+cgdcont=1,"IP","internet") but from discussions with the techies at Vodafone, that string is also their standard one. Additionally, I have managed to get my 8800 to connect to the internet from my PC with DUN (but only in tethered mode via the USB cable).

Thanks again.

avmad

I'm not sure what the site was, but I'm sure I can find it

Go to Settings, Advanced, and then TCP. Mine for TMobile is general.t-mobile.uk, which I had to get off another site.

For the connection strings, it should be on the site on which you got the tutorial for setting up the modem. On my 8800, I had to modify the string for TMobile UK. I had the TMobile USA string, replaced with the TCP setting - as above.

Hope to help, shoot me a PM if you need a hand.

[avmad]

Originally Posted by SimonSingh

Go to Settings, Advanced, and then TCP. Mine for TMobile is general.t-mobile.uk, which I had to get off another site.

Thanks for the offer and thanks for the info.

I think you are referring to the APN name and associated user name / password.

From several sources, the consensus seems to be that this should be what I have set already, namely:

APN: internet
username: web (can be blank also)
password: web (can be blank also)
dial sting: "at+cgdcont=1,"IP","internet""
dial number: "*99***1#" (also tried "*99#" - both work from a PC DUN connection)

This is also confirmed by this exellent site: GPRS information and UK settings

It's worth noting that the 8800 initially had its APN set to "internet.com" instead.

Sadly, with these setting, the TT still reports "Unable to setup your wireless data connection. Do you want to change your settings?"

Cheers!

avmad